American International Health Alliance

TbilisiSanFrancisco

Tbilisi, Georgia / San Francisco, California

1999-2003

Focus: Disease Prevention, Infection Control, Blood Banking

The Partners
Partnership Objectives
Key Events
Achievements
Participating Institutions
Related Article

The Partners

US Partner: Global Healing, based in San Francisco, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established to facilitate health care reform through education in areas of the world where modern health care is not available. This is achieved by working directly with local government officials, health-care providers, educators, businesses, public institutions, and private citizens to put processes in place to ensure self-sufficiency. Global Healing has no paid staff; all its activities are accomplished by volunteers.

NIS Partner: The Jo Ann Medical Center (JAMC) is a nonprofit organization and health facility in Tbilisi. Since it's opening in September 1996 the JAMC has successfully performed over 400 pediatric cardiac surgeries. In September 2000, the JAMC blood bank opened its doors to provide safe blood and blood products to the people of Georgia. The blood bank at the JAMC is designed to serve as the pilot project for a future national-level blood bank.

Partnership Objectives

The overall goal of the partnership was to establish a self-sufficient, modern blood bank with the capability to meet the needs of the Georgian population. Specific objectives were to:

Establish international contacts within the blood bank community.
Assemble training teams for on-site training at the blood bank.
Create standard operating procedures for the blood bank to follow.
Open a blood bank that adheres to international blood-banking standards.
Develop a donor recruitment plan within Tbilisi.
Operationalize a computerized donor database.
Train Georgian staff at a comparable US blood bank.
Continuous training of blood bank employees.

Key Events

1999
- Beginning in April two directors from the Polyhaema Blood Bank in Tbilisi traveled to San Francisco to learn management techniques for operating a modern blood bank. The Managing Director received 5 weeks of training at the American Red Cross in Oakland, California. The Medical Director’s 12 week program included training in all aspects of the blood banking process, including drawing, testing and processing at the Red Cross and working in the lab at the Sacramento Blood Bank.
2000
- In July the director of the blood bank attended the 26th Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion in Vienna, Austria. The five-day conference focused on topics such as blood groups, hemotherapy, blood safety, immuno-biology, and quality assurance.
- The JAMC Blood Bank officially opened on September 23. The First Deputy Minster of Health, Labor and Social Affairs and the President of Global Healing provided opening remarks, and various health care officials and USAID representatives attended the opening ceremony.
- In December the US partners hosted a group of blood bank staff at the Sacramento Medical Foundation Blood Center. The trip was designed to give the Georgian participants experience in blood banking procedures, and allow them to acquire new knowledge in fields of blood bank management and the preparation of various products. The partners were also shown new laboratory methods for transfusion services.
2001
- The Blood Bank Director and a US partner attended the VII European Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusions Annual Conference in Paris, France. The three-day conference provided updated knowledge on the latest diagnosis and treatment strategies and the latest advances in transfusion medicine and methods for improving the safety of blood products. The JAMC Blood Bank director presented the practices and experiences of the JAMC Blood Bank.

Achievements

Blood Bank

Renovations for the blood bank at the JAMC were completed and equipment was properly installed. The JAMC Blood Bank officially opened in September, 2000. American medical teams traveled to Tbilisi to conduct initial training for the blood bank staff.
A US partner created a computerized database for the blood bank. The database was donated to the JAMC and NIS partners tested it locally.
In December 1999 the US partners hosted an exchange at the Sacramento Medical Foundation Blood Center. The trip was designed to give the NIS participants experience in blood banking procedures, and allow them to acquire new knowledge in fields of blood bank management and the preparation of various products. The partners were shown new laboratory methods for transfusion services, and received training in donor recruitment suggestions and methods.
International standard of practice (SOPs) were customized to fit the unique situation in Tbilisi and implemented at the Blood Bank during an exchange trip.
The partnership ordered a four-month supply of CAP test kits for the safe blood program in Georgia. Test kits for Hepatitis B & C, HIV, and syphilis arrived in Georgia and were distributed to the AIDS center, as well as to its satellite labs. The program was monitored by AIHA and the AIDS Center. US partners are analyzing the data.
In September 2001 US partners conducted SOP assessments at the JAMC blood bank, the AIDS Center, and two other major blood banks in Tbilisi. US partners finalized reports of those assessments and made them available to other inspected sites.

Participating Institutions